The 4th of July

This is my 2nd most favorite holiday. I am becoming more patriotic the older I get. I can't even make it through the hymns in church this time of year. Sad but true. I cry and cry. Of course I cry at the opening of the first football game of the season too...

As usual, we took the kids to the parade and sat in our "usual" spot. The kids LOVED the WHOLE 2 HRS of it! It took me back to last year being so pregnant and hot, and that my sweet baby is WALKING! It's not fair how fast they grow. We went to the carnival afterwards and generously bought tickets for Porter to go on some rides, which he refused, so we had to scalp the tickets. Then we left for some yummy luch at Cafe Rio (I know, nothing like Mexican to celebrate America). We visited with some family, then came home and napped. Later that night we went to a BBQ at a neighbor's house where Porter experienced his first sparkler! It was kind of magical.

I LOVE LOVE LOVED the new law this year! Aerials were awesome! The kids loved seeing them all over the sky. It kinda made up for not seeing the big ones this year. I don't think we missed out on much.

Camping

I know most of you wouldn't post about camping. Big deal, right? It's kind of a big deal for us. We've been meaning to do this for WAY TOO LONG! (2 yrs) I've been making excuses and the timing has just never been right. Evan has had a super crazy work schedule lately, which made our Friday night camping trip a bust, so...determined to keep my husband happy and my promise to my boys, we packed up saturday afternoon and went. It was really fun. I don't hate camping. I really enjoy it. BUT, it's very hard with very young kids.

On our hike

We went up Hobble Creek and reserved a site, set up the tent, and went on a hike. Then we came back and played in the tent for awhile, made dinner, and put the boys down for an "early" bed, which turned out to be a short nap, cause they were up playing again for another couple of hours until we all got to fall asleep. SO fun!





                                                                                

The next morning we were up and out before 8 am, fed and happy. I can do camping trips like that. I keep telling Evan that I can't wait until our youngest is 2 and we can really ENJOY family outings like that. Until then we'll just have to make do and plug through it, right? It's worth it, right?

The boys had a blast and I did too, to tell the truth. But most importantly, Evan had a good time, which was my whole objective!

We had a surprise visit from my Grandma last week. She is old, and doesn't like to leave her house, even though the flight is less than an hour and it's FREE! She came anyway for an afternoon. After hearing she was here, I packed up the kids and we headed to Salt Lake. My brother and his family were also visiting from WA, so when we got there, the kids had a pretty good water fight in the back yard. Porter has never been given a water gun before so he was pretty much all smiles. Henry played with little Scott and tried to wrestle a lot with him, but the moment had passed by the time I pulled my camera out.

Later that day, my dad took all the grandkids to the fairgrounds to ride some horses. Porter was excited, but as you can see here, he spent his time with the chickens. He missed out on quite the experience.

Morning shower

This is what happens when I take a long shower and leave P to his own devices. He's been on a toy kick lately where he'll bring every toy, pillow and blanket he owns to a specific place and just sit there surrounded by them. Henry was asleep, so when he asked me to bring MY pillow and blanket out and lay down to play on the floor, I jumped at the opportunity. I got in a good hour nap while Porter played happily around me, until Henry woke up. I love this kid! So funny!

Oh Deer

It's bound to happen when you drive 4 hrs a day in the dark on a dirt road...Good think work paid for it!